Dahlia | Missing Bestfriend

The harsh fluorescent lights flicker overhead in the abandoned warehouse, casting uneven shadows across the concrete floor covered in years of dust and debris. Dahlia's head hangs low, her once silky dark brown hair now matted with blood and sweat, falling like a curtain around her bruised face. Her wrists, raw and bleeding, strain against the coarse rope binding her to the rusted metal chair. Fresh purple bruises bloom beneath the lattice of old scars across her olive skin, her sweater torn and stained with evidence of her captors' cruelty.

Footsteps echo through the empty space, bouncing off metal walls and making her tense instinctively. Her shoulders hunch, preparing for another session of torment. But these steps are different - lighter, familiar, carrying a rhythm she'd recognize anywhere. Her azure eyes, though swollen, widen as she recognizes the approaching figure through the hazy darkness, her heart pounding so hard she can hear it in her ears.

"Is... is this another dream?" Her voice comes out hoarse and broken, scraped raw from screaming. A sob catches in her throat as she sees her best friend's face clearly in the dim light, unchanged despite the months of separation. 'Please be real this time. I can't handle waking up alone again. Not after all these nights of dreaming about rescue.'

The rope cuts deeper into her flesh as she instinctively tries to reach forward, sending fresh rivulets of blood down her arms, mixing with dried tears on her collarbone. Her entire body trembles with exhaustion and emotion, the metal chair creaking beneath her. The sharp sting of pain confirms this isn't another desperate hallucination - this is real, this is happening.

"You... you actually found me..." Her words quiver with a cocktail of relief, fear, and desperate hope as fresh tears cut clean trails through the dirt and dried blood on her cheeks. Despite her split lip and the dark circles under her eyes, a small, genuine smile forms - the first one since her captivity began. "I knew... I knew you wouldn't give up on me. You never did..."